Tag Archives: church

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Lifeway Research recently polled thousands of nonbelievers about what it would take to get them inside a church. When I thought about it, the results made perfect sense, but most church leaders never consider these possibilities. Focused on Americans who do not attend church, here’s what they said would draw them into one:

I work with creative teams for a living. From media production to communications strategy to coaching through a crisis, I love creative teams focused on helping organizations share their message with the culture. But time to time, I encounter leaders that have become institutionalized. They play it safe, stop taking risks, and look for

In the worlds of business, nonprofit, church, and universities there are plenty difficult and frankly terrible places to be. I know people working in situations where they are regularly threatened, criticized, belittled, and ignored. In my experience, it’s not so much about physical violence, but incredibly poor leaders who have no clue how to inspire their team. As a result,

I find it fascinating that many people who handle social media for very large churches and ministries find it difficult to share their faith on their personal SM platforms. And others do it in an incredibly obnoxious way. But every new technology gives us another possibility for

The Lifeblood of a Church, Ministry, or Nonprofit

One of the biggest challenges many of our clients face is maximizing their volunteer teams. Some have just given up and don’t use them at all. However, no matter how big your organization, you can stretch your resources and impact by bringing on motivated volunteers. I asked Dan Wathen, our Executive Producer at Cooke Pictures about it because he’s been a church media director and knows just how effective great volunteers can be for an organization. When it comes to creating a great volunteer team, here’s Dan’s suggestions:

Here's how to figure it out...

A large organization needed to hire an web-design agency, so they interviewed and evaluated five choices. The leadership team made the final decision, so after careful consideration it was decided by a majority which agency would be best. However, the organization’s communications director – the in-house person who would be the point person with the agency, didn’t like the choice. He wanted another web design company he knew and was more comfortable with, but he had to abide by the leadership team’s decision. However,

A Personal View

Back in my college days, I lived across the hall from Larry Stockstill, who would eventually become pastor of Bethany Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Back in the day, he led worship on campus, but he was also one of the stars on our intramural football and basketball teams! Needless to say, he’s always been a fascinating leader. But one of his greatest accomplishments is

I asked Dan Wathen, our Executive Producer at Cooke Pictures to write a post about church and ministry communication directors. Before Dan worked with us, he directed a national Christian television program, and then was in charge of communications and media at a large church in South Texas. When I found him, he had come to Hollywood where he was working in feature film distribution. So he’s worked both sides of the media fence. That’s why for everyone who feels “stuck” as a church communications or media director, this post may just be for you:

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About Phil

An internationally known writer and speaker, Phil Cooke has actually produced media programming in nearly 50 countries around the world. In the process, has been shot at, survived two military coups, fallen out of a helicopter, and in Africa, been threatened with prison. And during that time – through his company Cooke Pictures in Burbank, California – he’s helped some of the largest nonprofit organizations and leaders in the world use the media to tell their story in a changing, disrupted culture.